Tuesday, March 24, 2015

... and now let me qualify that sensationalist title. What is really "done" is the first draft for book three of the "In the Time of the Dead Trilogy." And by "first draft" I mean that I have written 100,000+ words, there is a beginning, middle, and an end, and it seems to be reasonably kick-ass.With that said, I am now in the process of reading through the whole of the manuscript, checking for any little (or big) issues that may present themselves. This means things like, "Do I really need a comma there? Would that guy really say that?" and "Wait a minute, what day is that happening on? How could they get to the location they are in that short amount of time?" as well as, "Oh man, I completely do not remember writing this, did my kid get on my computer and hammer out these pages?" You know, stuff like that.In a few days, after I'm done this read-through, I get to put the sucker on a shelf for a month! That's right, one month! And then, after that, I get to pick it up, dust it off, and attack it with a fresh mind... or as fresh as its going to get- which actually means it has a slight amount of moss growing on it along with an old, withered man in a loincloth walking around inside, banging on its walls with his cane, saying, "This sucks, sonny. Oh, yes, she sucks!" From there, I get to send it off to my readers and my agent. Now, lest you think I am sitting back and taking my leisure in those thirty days, let me assure you that I am only sort of doing that. In those intervening days, I shall be working on the cover and the interior pieces for the book. So... stay tuned! I'll be putting some artwork up here in a bit! Later gaiters.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Ye gods, blogging is tough. Is it, though? I mean, you're a writer. You've written novels. You're writing one now. What's so big about writing a blog?It's just... the TIME! You don't understand. It's just hard to think about sitting down to write a novel all day and then, somewhere in there, think about having to sit down even longer to write something in a blog. And it's not just the writing. It's the thinking up content; something that's going to be interesting for people to want to read. And what's the use anyway? Are my thoughts really so awesome, someone out there in the world wants to read them? Blah. Blah. Blah. Just write and stop complaining. I'm explaining. Not complaining.Sounds like complaining to me. What you've just read is the conversation I have in my head when I think about blogging. I'm constantly going back and forth on whether it is worth having a blog when I have all these other ways of connecting with readers. There's the big one, Facebook, and then there is Twitter, Instagram... and all the others. It's exhausting to think of trying to keep up with providing content for all those sites, writing and researching for my current and future books, doing the illustrations for those books, on top of blogging. It's just... yeah. A lot.So is it worth it? Not really sure. I read everywhere that in order to have any kind of writing career, you NEED to blog. Is that true? Let me know your thoughts. As you can see, mine are engaged in a heated debate with no real decision in sight. But wait... here I am, blogging... that's gotta tell you something. Right?

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University of Hartford

University of Hartford Low Residency MFA Program

About Me

David Monette was born and raised in the cold rural hinterlands of upstate New York. As a typical kid in a typical community, life for him was pretty… typical. He liked to draw creatures and contraptions but as the second born of four sons, such ability was merely a convenient way of standing out from the crowd. As he inexpertly stumbled through high school, his talent for capturing the images in his head onto paper was noticed and encouraged by both teachers and family members. Without any other idea of what to do with himself after graduation, besides a vague idea of doing something art oriented, he decided to attend Mohawk Valley Community College where he received his associate’s degree in Advertising Design and Production. Acting on excellent advice from his teachers at this institution, he went on to Syracuse University where he learned a great deal about art and eventually wound up with a bachelor’s degree in Illustration. With a disturbingly large amount of student debt and a decent portfolio, he learned what it was to be a starving artist. Namely, he found that artists don’t starve; they simply pick up an endless series of part time work to pay the rent while continuing to plug away at their true passion. This is essentially what he did until he received his first illustration job and from that point on, he didn't look back. As an illustrator, his highly detailed fantasy and science fiction work has appeared in many books, magazines, board games, and collectible card games for such varied publishers as Dell Publishing, Wizards of the Coast, and Atlas Games. Initially, he had completed these diverse projects utilizing oil and acrylic paints as well as pen and inks. As digital technology continued to improve, however, he decided it was time to tackle the arduous task of mastering the computer and eventually figured out a way to adapt his style to a digital format. With this knowledge and experience, he went back to school and received his master’s degree in Illustration from the University of Hartford. While there, his instructors reviewed his written work and had strongly suggested that he combine his writing ability with his talent as an illustrator to chart his own path. And hence, "The Zombie Axiom" was born.